The Journal of the Arkansas Medical Society
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Hydrocodone is one of the most frequently prescribed medications in the United States. Chronic users of hydrocodone are high-risk patients who consume valuable time and resources within a Family Medicine Residency Program. A narcotic agreement is a tool to help providers define patient expectations regarding chronic medication use. Objectives of this project were to classify hydrocodone utilizers by frequency of use, determine use of narcotic agreements in chronic users, and evaluate patients' ad- herence to agreement parameters. ⋯ The majority of hydrocodone prescribed within our FMC during the study period was for chronic users, most of whom did not have narcotic agreements. A minority of patients with agreements were adherent to all parameters. Identifying chronic utilizers in a timely manner, standardizing implementation of narcotic agreements, and integrating prescription database monitoring into routine care would permit pro- viders to more appropriately manage these high risk patients.
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Case Reports
Polymethylmethacrylate pulmonary embolism as a complication of percutaneous vertebroplasty in cancer patients.
Percutaneous vertebroplasty is frequently used in the treatment of vertebral body fractures due to osteoporosis, vertebral body metastasis, or myeloma. Acrylic cement of polymethylmethacrylate injected into the vertebral body can leak into the paravertebral venous system and reach the pulmonary artery via the azygos vein leading to a cement pulmonary embolism. ⋯ The appearance of new intrapulmonary artery tubular opaque density on CXR performed post procedure is highly suggestive of the diagnosis. In this case, we are exploring the importance of clinical and radiographic correlations, as well as evaluation of the hemodynamic and perfusion effect of the cement pulmonary embolism as essential steps in the management of this condition.